2022 is off to a roaring start for our credit union clients! So far this year, CU Strategic Planning has successfully ushered 20 credit union Community Development Financial Institution Certifications through the approval process with Treasury’s CDFI Fund. 2021 saw high demand for CDFI certifications, as our CEO Stacy Augustine wrote about for CUinsight, creating a backlog of applications that meant credit unions were waiting months longer than anticipated for notification. The Fund now appears to be moving through this backlog, making it possible for the newly-certified to apply for CDFI Fund grants. These grants must be used to support generating economic growth and opportunity in some of our nation's most distressed communities. For more than a decade, we have helped credit unions achieve CDFI status and have guided credit unions through the CDFI funding process to earn more than $770 million for our clients. Brooke Van Vleet, CEO at InRoads CU, one of the recently CDFI Certified credit unions, said, “We are thrilled to have the certification process completed – it’s a culmination of many months of work by my team as well as our CU Strategic Planning partners – and can’t wait to begin to fully explore and leverage this designation to better serve our communities.
“We plan to pursue an FA grant this year and have already been developing this application while we were awaiting final word on our certification. We also want to understand other opportunities that are available to CDFIs to partner with organizations in our community to serve those in need.” Credit unions approved in just the first few weeks of the new year include:
Truliant FCU 1/7 Abbey CU 1/10 Calhoun Liberty Employees CU 1/10 Greater Nevada CU 1/10 Financial Resources FCU 1/10 USF FCU 1/12 Y-12 FCU 1/12 University CU (Maine) 1/14 Kitsap CU 1/14 Bay CU 1/14 | Cardinal CU 1/14 Gesa CU 1/14 Fort Randall FCU 1/14 HAPO Community CU 1/14 Capital Educators FCU 1/18 Arlington Community FCU 1/18 CPM FCU 1/18 InRoads CU 1/19 Vermillion FCU 1/19 First Commerce CU 1/21 |
We also officially got word on Dec. 29, 2021, that CoastHills FCU was also approved as a CDFI, so we want to celebrate them as well!
CU Strategic Planning provides strategic and tactical business planning services for credit unions with a focus on community development. Our work with CDFIs and DEI consulting allows us to fulfill our mission to unlock opportunities for credit unions to change lives and their communities.
Van Vleet continued, “When we first started exploring certification, we considered the streamlined process that was previously available. When that wasn’t available to us, I talked to many other CEOs who had partnered with CU Strategic Planning on this complex process. I’ve known CEO Stacy Augustine for many years and was excited to get to work with her again! The entire CUSP team was so easy to work with and kept us apprised throughout the process.”